In the manufacture of articles of glass or other materials molten glass is supplied in a continuous stream from a feeder bowl and is continuously cut by suitable cutters into portions known as gobs, which are distributed, by a gob distributor, to one or more cavities of a plurality of article-shaping stations, generally eight, which constitute the machine.
Gob distributors for distributing the gobs to the shaping sections of the machine for the manufacture of articles of glass are well known and have achieved very effective development during the last few years, so that this type of mechanism has become an extremely efficient unit which makes possible the formation of articles of glass in multiple-station machines, which has increased the production capacity to a great extent.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,187 of Aug. 3, 1971, to Urban P. Trudeau assigned to Owens Illinois Inc. describes a molten glass gob distributor which comprises a pair of curved movable scoops supported on vertical shafts which by means of suitable gears are caused to turn through a predetermined angle of turn by a transverse bar which contains a cam follower which is pressed against the control cam, which has a shape such that it causes the curved scoops to turn simultaneously between one molding station and the next. The control cam in its turn is turned by means of a ring gear and a worm which is coupled to the shaft which is turned by a synchronous motor which turns the cam at a constant speed in synchronism with the operation controls, for instance the time drum which controls the various operations of each station of a multi-station machine for the shaping of glass articles.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,544 of Mar. 20, 1973, to Wasyl Bystrianyk and Francis A. Sarkozy, assigned to Emhart Corporation, there is also described a distributor for gobs of molten glass which comprises essentially a pair of rotatable curved scoops, a mechanism for supporting the curved scoops in dependent relationship side by side in order to turn them on each of their vertical axes, which mechanism includes a ring spur gear adjacent to the upper end of each scoop, a horizontally extending slideable member supported in a housing which supports the mechanism and which at one end has a portion which defines a rack for coupling with the spur gears on the scoops in order to turn them and at its other end a cam follower which is compelled by a spring to follow the path of a rotating multilobe cam, each of the lobes having a predetermined lift which results in a reciprocating movement which defines the position at which the curved scoops turn.
This type of distributor has a cooling system for each scoop, consisting of a cooling passage of spiral configuration provided in a funnel-shaped portion.
The cooling liquid generally employed is water and it is introduced through an entrance gate and into an annular passage through a neck in which the ring gear is defined within the profiled spiral groove in the inner portion of the tubular funnel and from there upward and downward within an aligned passage defining the scoop portion, having a similar return portion with reference to the other scoop and funnel.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,083 of Nov. 27, 1973, to Nebelung et al., assigned to Emhart Corporation, describes and claims a gob distributor for machines for the forming of articles of glass which differs with regard to the manner of controlling the movement of the ring gears which in their turn move the shafts connected to the movable scoops since, in the particular case of the patent to Nebelung et al., such shafts are movable by means of ring gears which are connected to different racks, each of which is actuated by a fluid-driven linear motor, each one of which has a plurality of pistons which are driven through suitable distances and held by means of suitable stops in such a manner that a sequential movement can be imparted to each of the fluid-operated motors in order to enable the mechanism to move the scoops of the distributor between one station and the following one marked in the sequence by mere fluid pulses or signals instead of the use of the traditional cams which are employed both by Trudeau and by Bistrianyk. Nebelung, et al., however, use a plurality of individual pistons placed in tandem within respective pneumatic cylinders, which pistons are moved individually by air signals which come from each of the individual sections of the machine in order to move the distribution scoops in suitable sequence.
In this distribution system, the cooling of each distributor scoop is constituted by the walls in the portions of the funnels, which have cooling passages arranged in a spiral through which the cooling water is directed. The cooling fluid protects the support of the frame of the gearing, conducted from the outside and directed via the upper portion of a groove through the profile of each spiral scoop and from there to a cooling passage within the scoops, the manufacture of this type of distributor being rather complicated.
The problems which have been caused by the use of cooling passages for each scoop in the distribution of gobs of the different machines for the shaping of glass articles are known and reside essentially in the cooling of the bushings of the distributor scoops by means of a system of internal conduits of spiral configuration within the frame through which the cooling fluid is directed, its manufacture being more complicated and the size of the distributor being increased.
Another substantial disadvantage present resides in the fact that the present distribution units, because they are of larger size, occupy a greater amount of space between the feeder bowl which contains the molten glass and the different scoops of the shaping stations, thus preventing operation at higher speeds by shortening the distance of fall of the gob.
Another substantial disadvantage of the present distributors is that their manufacture is more complicated and their cost of manufacture greater.